Bound

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Reckoning

It was she who struck first, biting deeply and hard on the stone lip that sought hers.   Vampiric blood flowed into her mouth, not unpleasant, but not the heady nectar that was a human's.   Gareth wrenched himself away from her,  eyes blazing.    She had BIT him!   Bit him, refused him, and he could not have that. 

Raged boiled up in place of  desire in his heart as he scowled.    Infuriatingly Brianna smiled, a vicious smile, one full of power.   Her melodious voice tinkled out in a laugh.  "Really, Gareth!" She said, wiping his blood from her mouth as if it were a vile substance, "You think that I'll fall into your arms, swoon to be yours, after all these months of torture?!"  

Gareth could see through the haze of his anger how powerful a vampire Brianna would be.   Her beauty shone like no other and she fairly crackled with strength, with vitality.   No more was the game in his favor, no more did he have the upper hand.   Even all his considerable charm had no effect on the beauty before him.  By giving her his Gift he had given her the tools to defy him fearlessly.

"You will not disobey me." He said in an attempt to remain in control. " You know not of the dangers of being newborn in our world.   You are my soul mate and you will allow yourself to become mine fully."

Brianna looked at this imposing figure in the night and laughed.     That laugh, so careless, was Gareth's undoing.  His careful control snapped, and with his own growl he leapt at her.    His arms sought to close her in to him, his sharp fangs bared.   With shock he was flung into the side of the mansion, the wall imploding around him with the force of her resistance. 

Scarcely moving Brianna watched as he picked himself up from the debris.   Now the tables were turned, she mused, now it was SHE who held the power, who held the control.     Softly she said "You will not tell me how to behave ever again.   I am my own woman and you do not have the power to make me do anything, do you understand?"

Gareth rose from the demolished wall of his fortress, the rage burning away.   How could he stay angry with her, she was glorious.  So much more than he expected in every way.  He couldn't have predicted this outcome, this reckoning.   Some of his control slipped back into place as he very cautiously advanced towards her, hands raised to quell her response.  

His eyes met hers again, the strength of the compulsion in them slowly burning through her own control.  He saw her eyes go fierce and flat as she realized he continued to try to press his advantage.  He also saw the confusion as the compulsion took seed in a small way.   

Brianna never stopped watching those eyes of his, those obsidian dark eyes.  She knew he was trying to weave his powerful mind tricks upon her, knew it and was strong enough to fight it.  She acknowledged to herself, however, that the centuries old vampire was more powerful than she in this area, and felt the tingle of his mind touch on hers, inflaming her in a new way.   

Stubbornly she backed from him, circled his approach.   The sounds of the night in the forest and the wind singing through the trees back lit their drama as two of the most powerful creatures on the Earth studied each other, each seeking the advantage.......